...But Is It Cinema?

MAY 2007, Part D: Prizes? Who Needs Prizes?

A number of years back, the question was put to me during a panel discussion as to why our film festival confers competitive jury awards. At the time, the question was legit: after all, why institute a competitive award, complete with cash and valuable goods and services when the whole practice might serve to create a have/have not system among our artists. While I remember giving a not-too-coherent response to the question, I've had a chance to ponder the question in subsequent years while watching how our VC FILMFEST selections -- mostly shorts, but in recent years features as well -- have performed in other festivals.

To put it succinctly (and not to be sanctimonious about it), the films we program benefit greatly from the imprimatur of "award-eligible" that we bestow upon our selections. In the absence of a viable delivery system of "marginalized" media controlled, programmed, developed, marketed and managed by people of color (read: theatre chains, television network, satellite/broadband, internet, movie studios), venues such as VC FILMFEST have to be much more creative and open to "outside-the-box" means of insuring that events such as our Festival does not become a week of dead-end screenings, but the agent of continued and sustained opportunity for our filmmakers. And if that means organizing such "sell-out" mechanisms as film awards, well I've made my peace with that a long time ago.

As well, the work of our program committee to select awards finalists each year hopefully gives our selections an enhanced opportunity to be noticed. More importantly, we'll hopefully serve notice to filmmakers seeking to be included in the program line-up that they need to step up their filmmaking craft, that "cinema as usual" just won't cut it, and that if they're seeking to submit sloppy, incoherent or just-plain lazy work expecting to get a pass from their hometown film festival -- well, they're in for a rude surprise.

Even if their works aren't one of the selected few for awards consideration, the opportunity to shine in front of their peers, their families and community (not to mention visiting film festival programmers, eductator, distributors and exhibitors) should be incentive enough to put on their best effort. Take the case of one of our former program committee members, Juli Kang. Her UCLA MFA Thesis project DAMN THE PAST! premiered on Opening Weekend to a packed house and is being spoken of as a true Festival Week audience fave; yet, it wasn't initially selected as an awards finalist. No matter -- she got the word out to ALL her family, friends, and industry associates; and worked hand-in-hand with the Festival to make sure industry professionals saw her program. Needless to say, her hard work is beginning to pay dividends -- programmers have started to pay attention to her, word-of-mouth has been positive, and as a result, DAMN THE PAST! is poised for a long festival tour lasting into 2008. Damn the certificate -- adulation, affirmation, attention and more opportunity is indeed its own reward for hard work and inspiration.

posted by Abraham Ferrer @ 4:07 PM